Round-up: Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, April 8

Swapnil Asnodkar stars in Goa’s victory

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The bowlers set up a victory for Baroda against Bengal, while captain Swapnil Asnodkar led Goa to a win over Haryana. Meanwhile, Kerala outplayed Delhi in Mumbai to kick off the Super League of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with a win and Gujarat coasted to a six-wicket win. Here are the highlights of Day 1 of the ongoing T20 tournament:

Group B

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Baroda vs Bengal: Baroda carried forward their winning streak into the Super League phase. In a low-scoring match against Bengal, the Aditya Waghmode-led side cantered to a seven-wicket win with 36 balls to spare. Their bowlers had earlier bowled Bengal out for 96 runs after electing to field first. Lukman Meriwala and A Karambelkar claimed three wickets each, while Hardik Pandya accounted for two scalps. Chasing the paltry total, Baroda lost three wickets but cruised to the target effortlessly.

DDCA vs Kerala: Kerala beat Delhi by 14 runs in their opening game of the Super League phase, in Mumbai. The Kerala openers set up the game in their team’s favour with an 89-run opening stand. Their bowlers then struck at regular intervals to keep the Delhi batsmen in check and held them down to 136 for nine to bowl their side to victory. Click here for the full report

Group A

Goa vs Haryana: After restricting Haryana to 116 for nine, Goa cantered to an eight-wicket win with two overs to spare. Earlier, after opting to field first, M Gawas claimed both openers to leave Haryana on 14 for two. Although the middle order strove to stem the fall wickets, they couldn’t recover from the top-order collapse that had left the team floundering on 36 for four. The lower order too caved in without much resistance as L Garg claimed three wickets and H Gadekar and Amit Yadav chipped in with one each.

Swapnil Asnodkar then led the chase with an unbeaten 70-run knock to take Goa across the line.

Gujarat vs Jharkhand: Gujarat won by six wickets after restricting Jharkhand to 108. Remaining unbeaten on 46, SK Patel helped Gujarat chase down the target with 11 balls to spare. SS Quadri picked three of the four Gujarat wickets that fell during the chase.

Earlier, Jharkhand trudged to 108 for eight after losing three wickets with just 25 runs on the board. With 25 runs, Kumar Deobrath was the top-scorer for the team from North Zone. KM Thakor and CT Gaja claimed three and two wickets respectively, while Rohit Dahiya, RH Bhatt and RV Dhruve chipped in with a wicket each.

Report: DDCA vs Kerala, Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, 2014

Kerala pull off 14-run win against Delhi

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Kerala beat Delhi by 14 runs in their opening game of the BCCI T20 Super League in Mumbai. The Kerala openers set up the game in their team’s favour with an 89-run opening stand. Their bowlers then struck at regular intervals to keep the Delhi batsmen in check and held them to 136 for nine to bowl their side to victory.

Earlier, asked to bat first at Wankhede stadium, the Kerala openers got off to a flying start. VA Jagdeesh and Rakesh KJ struck the bowlers all over the ground to lay the foundation for a competitive score. Scoring at over eight runs per over, the pair was cruising along until Yogesh Nagar removed both batsmen off successive deliveries in the 12th over. V A Jadgeesh, who had reached his 50 in the previous over, was the first to depart for 52, while his opening partner was bowled shortly afterwards.

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With the team on 89 for two, Kerala had two new batsmen – Sanju Vishwanadh and Rohan Prem – at the crease. And then, Rohan Prem departed off the first ball of the next over. The loss of quick wickets affected the run-rate a little. But Sanju and Sachin Baby worked to stem the fall of wickets and keep the scoreboard ticking. Kerala then reached the three-figure mark in 13.5.

Sachin Baby reverse swept Nagar for four in the bowler’s last over to take Kerala to 121 for three at the end of 16 overs. However, departed after adding 18 runs to the total. Jafar Jamal was the next to return to the dugout. Sachin Baby, who had earlier slammed Sumit Narwal for a six, followed Jafar into the dressing room later in the same over. With the team on 138 for six in the penultimate over, Anfal PM joined P Prasanth in the middle. The pair added nine runs in the last over to take their team to a respectable 150 at the end of the innings.

While chasing the target, Delhi lost their first wicket with 16 runs on the board. Mohit Sharma was caught by the wicketkeeper and was replaced by Kshitiz Sharma in the middle. 10 runs later, Aditya Kaushik was castled by P Prasanth bringing Jagrit Anand to the crease. The batsman then opened his account with a boundary through the leg side off the last ball of the over.

In his next over P Prasanth clipped Kshitiz’s bails to leave Delhi on 35 for three. Striving to take the innings forward Nagar joined Anand in the middle and the duo took the team to 52 for three at the end of ten overs. The batsmen took a few risks while they looked to increase the run rate.

With the pressure increasing, Nagar looking to up the run-rate, holed out to deep mid-wicket off Jagdeesh. In the next over, Anand struck Rakesh for six and was caught at long-on by Sachin Baby off the next ball while looking for another big hit.

While the Kerala bowlers kept the opposition batsmen in check, the fielders also put a good effort in the field. With five wickets down, Bisht came out to the middle and returned after adding just five to leave Delhi on 89 for six. Pratuyush Singh then joined Narwal in the middle. Narwal, who then hit Rakesh for a six and a boundary, was castled by the bowler. Rakesh claimed two wickets while conceding 13 runs off his last over.

With 46 required from the last three overs, Varun Sood clobbered Prasanth for two sixes on the leg side to collect 17 runs off the over. With the match precariously poised, Pratuyush’s edge went past the ‘keeper to the fence. The pair took their chances as they looked glean runs off the Kerala bowlers.Then, Vinod Kumar dislodged Pratuyush’s bails off the last ball of the penultimate over to leave Delhi on 129 for eight.

With 22 required off the last over, Thampy was handed the ball by his skipper. And soon, Sood perished for 22 (off 13 balls) with three deliveries left in the innings. With Kerala firmly in the driver’s seat, Javed then joined Vikas Tokas in the middle. But it was too little too late for Delhi as Kerala pulled off a 14-run win.